Composite materials have been employed in the aerospace industry for a number of years. The term composite material (also known more generally as ‘composites’) is used to describe materials comprising fibres such as carbon, glass or the like and an epoxy resin (or similar). Composite materials offer significant advantages for aerospace applications such as lower weight, improved fatigue/damage resistance, corrosion resistance and negligible thermal expansion.
The use of these materials has increased throughout the aerospace industry predominantly because of the fuel savings which can be achieved over the life of an aircraft by reducing the overall sum weight of the components making up the aircraft. Aerodynamic as well as structural components are formed of carbon fibre materials.
However, the inventors have established a limitation in the use of composite materials (such as carbon fibre) for components which are prone to possible impact or contact damage. Specifically, it has been established that conventional manufacturing methods do not provide components which are capable of withstanding the sort of impacts which can occur in aerospace applications.
One such application in the aerospace industry is the fan containment case (sometimes referred to as a fan case) of a gas turbine engine. Fan cases are designed to absorb the impact of all or part of a blade in the event of fracture or damage, for example caused by a bird being ingested into the engine. Without the fan case all or part of the blade could impact the fuselage and/or fuel tank causing catastrophic damage.
The present invention aims to provide a composite component with improved impact qualities and more specifically a component suitable for use as in fan containment case application.